Abstract: The prospect of low-cost, compact sensors that ‘see and sense’ has been a goal of technologists for decades. Previously only available in the defense realm, our ability to ‘own the night’ has transformed to a broad range of applications where the invisibility of infrared radiation is no longer a foreign concept—rather it has become common place. Such innovations have been fueled by the miniaturization of electronic and optical components, and the availability of advanced materials which can be designed with diverse functionality and integrated into multi-material packages. The role that chalcogenide glass has played in the progress of such applications is discussed, including how the strategy to engineer optical function with manufacturabilty, has transformed the use of these glasses in diverse applications.

Over the past decades efforts by the UCF team and our collaborators have focused on developing a toolbox of glass material chemistry options, processing methodologies, and metrology tools that employ multi-component non-oxide chalcogenide glasses (ChGs). Basics of these versatile materials are discussed as well as key challenges that remain in optical material science that are being examined to create innovative solutions to further integrate these materials into bulk and planar applications for sensing, security, and defense applications.

Biography: Kathleen Richardson is currently professor of optics and materials science and engineering at CREOL/College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida, where she leads the Glass Processing and Characterization Laboratory (GPCL). At Clemson University until 2012, she and her research team carry out synthesis and characterization of novel glass and glass ceramic materials for optical applications, examining the role of structure/property relationships on resulting optical function and performance in bulk, planar, and fiber optical materials. Richardson’s group is a leading source of expertise in the evaluation of photo-induced structure/property modification mechanisms in non-oxide glasses for optical applications including efforts to facilitate the integration of chalcogenide materials onto silicon-based and flexible microphotonic platforms. Most recently her team has partnered on industrial and government supported research programs evaluating materials for precision molded optics, the use of non-oxide glasses in chem-bio planar sensors, evaluation of complex material interactions in next-generation integrated opto-electronic chip design, and in nano-composites for advanced detection and optical applications.

In addition to receiving the 2017 George W. Morey award from the American Ceramic Society, she will also be recognized with the 2017 Malcolm G. McClaren Distinguished Lecture award by Rutgers University, and the 2017 Sir Richard Brooks International Prize, by the European Ceramic Society (ECerS) for her sustained contributions to glass and ceramic research and education. She has authored more than 210 peer-reviewed publications, numerous proceedings and book chapters, and has organized and chaired multiple domestic and international meetings within her discipline.

Richardson is a past-president of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS), a past-chair of ACerS’ Glass and Optical Materials Division (GOMD), a past member of the board of directors of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), and the Coordinating Technical Committee of the International Commission on Glass (ICG). Richardson currently serves as a member of the External Advisory Board for the U.S. Department of Energy Savannah River National Laboratory, and in 2016 was appointed as a curator to the Deutsches Stiftung’s Board of Trustees, overseeing the Ernst Abbe Fund. She is a founding trustee of the Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation (CGIF) which aims to enhance education and training opportunities for the next generation of ceramic and glass engineers and scientists. She is a recognized world leader in infrared glass research and education, and as a result of these efforts, currently holds the rank of Fellow in the American Ceramic Society, the Society of Glass Technology (UK), SPIE, and the Optical Society of America (OSA). Since 2006, she has served as a member of the board of trustees at Alfred University.

Abstract: Armed with a new Ph.D. degree in glass science from Rutgers University, I joined Corning’s exploratory research team in the summer of 1967 and soon began what became a life-long professional relationship with the perfect glass: fused silica. I will describe my early research on the preparation of unique doped fused silica glasses by flame hydrolysis and their unusual properties, and how this led to the successful development (with co-workers Bob Maurer and Don Keck) of the first low loss optical fibers for telecommunications in 1970. Our invention of methods and materials still used today to manufacture virtually all telecom fiber will be discussed. My transition from scientist to a key business executive of the world’s largest supplier of optical grade fused silicas (1984 to “retirement” in 2000) and subsequent career and challenges (2001 to present) as technical advisor and Board member to several global companies (including building and operating an all-fiber network in the US Virgin Islands) will be described.

Biography: Peter C. Schultz, is co-inventor of the fiber optics now used worldwide for telecommunications. He is an internationally-recognized scientist and has received numerous awards for his technical achievements. In 1993 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and in 2000 received the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton for his accomplishments (the highest technology award of the US government). In 1991, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is an expert in fiber optic technology (including telecommunication fibers and both terrestrial and undersea deployment, as well as specialty fibers for sensors) and general materials technology. He has been a resident of St. Thomas since 2001.

He was president and chief technology officer of Heraeus Inc. (1988-2001), vice president of technology (1984-1988) for SpecTran Corp, and senior scientist for Corning, Inc. (1967-1984).

Since 2001 he has provided technical and business consulting services to numerous international companies and expert witness for several law firms, through Peter Schultz Consulting, LLC. He serves as senior advisor and sole outside Board member of OFS Fitel, and as director, secretary, advisor and past interim CEO of viNGN (Virgin Islands Next Generation Network). He is also president of a research company (BioSensor Inc., founded in 1997) developing several novel medical sensors based on Russian technology. One of these devices is currently undergoing medical trials for treatment of autism in children.

He is a graduate of Rutgers University (B.S.1964, Ph.D.1967) and the MIT Sloan School senior executive program(1984). Peter Schultz holds 26 patents, has written over 22 research papers and is the recipient of numerous other awards recognizing his achievements, including the American Innovator Award (first recipient-US Dept. of Commerce 1995) presented by Ron Brown (Secretary of Commerce), and the Czech Gold Medal for Achievement presented by President Havel in 2002.

Abstract: Although it is commonly believed that as frozen supercooled liquids, glasses should continue to flow over the years (e.g., in the case of the stained glass windows of medieval cathedrals), the dramatic increase of their viscosity below the glass transition temperature suggests the contraryy—that their relaxation time is on the order of 1032 years at room temperature. A recent study conducted by Mauro et al. reported the intriguing dynamics of the relaxation of a commercial Corning® Gorilla Glass® at room temperature, over 1.5 years. We report a novel atomistic simulation method that allows us to directly access the long-term (years) dynamics of glass relaxation at room temperature. Based on the simulation of a series of mixed alkali silicate glasses, we demonstrate that room temperature relaxation is a direct consequence of the mixed alkali effect. Although both volume and energy feature a stretched exponential relaxation, our results reveal a bifurcation of the stretching exponents, with b = 3/5 and 3/7 for energy and volume relaxation, respectively. Relaxation occurs through the diffusion of local stressed structural instabilities inside the atomic network, which anneal each other when a compressed atomic unit meets one that is under tension. The driving force for this diffusion-trap relaxation mechanism is at a maximum when the concentrations of each alkali atom equals each other, which arises from a balance between the concentration of each alkali atom and the magnitude of the local stress that they undergo.

Abstract: The inevitable transformation of glass to crystal can occur via multiple pathways, producing different results. For example, spontaneous devitrification of glass, known for over six decades, produces polycrystalline glass-ceramics on heating, which are exploited in numerous products. By comparison, the possibility of transforming glass into its complete antithesis – a single crystal, was demonstrated only very recently. In this case one needs to heat (cool) the glass (melt) to its nucleation temperature to form just one nucleus and then heat it further to grow to the desired size and shape. The difficulty arises from unwanted nucleation in the glass matrix around the growing crystal. We will examine physical and chemical strategies that have successfully overcome this challenge. One such pathway has led to single crystals of compositions that decompose, transform to some undesirable phase, or melt incongruently on heating, which has not been feasible by conventional methods. Another variation has yielded a novel form of solid – the rotating lattice single crystal. The resulting 1-D and 2-D single crystal architecture in glass fabricated by such pathways by CW laser heating, and in 3-D by fs laser, will be examined for new functionalities and applications in optical communication, integrated optics, etc.

Separate parts of this work were supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-SC0005010) and National Science Foundation (DMR-0906763 and DMR- 1508177).

Biography: Himanshu Jain is the T.L. Diamond Distinguished Chair in engineering and applied science, and professor of materials science and engineering at Lehigh University. An author of six patents and over 360 research publications, he is the editor or author of nine books on glass science and technology. Over the past three decades he has focused on introducing new functionality and novel processing of glass through fundamentals, and making glass education available freely worldwide. Jain is a recipient of the Otto Schott Research international prize for his ‘jellyfish’ model of atomic fluctuations in glass; Zachariasen international award for outstanding contribution to glass research through the discovery of isotope mass effect in lithium transport in glass; Alfred University’s Scholes Lecture award for the development of active glasses; Lehigh University’s Libsch award for research; and the Hillman award for long-term excellence; the Fulbright Fellowship for lecturing and research at Cambridge and Aberdeen universities in UK; and a Humboldt Fellowship for research in Germany. He is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society.

Darshana and Arun Varshneya Frontiers of Glass Technology Lecture

Leonid Glebov, research professor of optics, Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers, College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida; OptiGrate Corporation

Title: Volume holographic elements in photo-thermo-refractive glass: features and applications

Abstract: This presentation summarizes the results of volume holographic elements development for spectroscopy and fine laser control that were performed by research teams of the photoinduced processing laboratory at CREOL/UCF and OptiGrate Corporation, in collaboration with numerous researchers from different countries. This survey includes mechanisms of refractive index change and origin of induced absorption and scattering in photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glass and basics of holographic elements recording in this material. The main types of holographic optical elements recorded in PTR glass are reflecting and transmitting volume Bragg gratings (VBGs); longitudinal and transverse chirped Bragg gratings (CBGs); monolithic solid state lasers with VBGs imprinted in gain elements; tunable and achromatic holographic phase masks (HPMs); and complex holographic elements such as lenses or curved mirrors. Applications of those elements for conventional and Raman spectroscopy, spectral and angular mode selection in different types of lasers, mode conversion by complex VBGs and holographic phase masks, spectral and coherent beam combining, ultrashort laser pulses stretching, compression and shaping, and monolithic solid state lasers with distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and distributed feedback (DFB) are described.

Biography: Leonid Glebov got his Ph.D in physics (major in optics) from State Optical Institute, Leningrad, Russia (1976). He was affiliated with this institute until 1995, holding different positions in research and management. Since 1995, Glebov has been a research professor at CREOL/The College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida. He published a book, more than 390 papers in scientific journals, and holds 10 U.S. patents. He is an organizing and program committee member for a number of international conferences. Glebov is a highly ranked scientist, and a Fellow of the International Society for Optical Engineering, The American Ceramic Society, Optical Society of America, and National Academy of Inventors. He received the Denise Gabor Award in holography in 2008.

His research focus includes optical properties of glasses, volume holographic optical elements in photosensitive glasses, semiconductors, solid state, and fiber lasers controlled by volume Bragg gratings. Glebov is a founder of OptiGrate Corporation and is a VP for R&D.